1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to toothbrushes and more particularly to an adjustable-head toothbrush that provides two or more locking angles of the brush head.
2. Prior Art
Among the thousands of toothbrush inventions are those that adjust into angles. Earlier designs include devices that fold, tilt, allow head-replacement and head-disposal, offer a novelty handle design, and other actions. However there is not yet a non-disposable toothbrush handle that allows the simple, manual angling and angle locking that this proposed construction offers. The following application and patents show adjustable toothbrush devices.
(a) U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,896: a toothbrush which requires finger manipulation of a control pin to adjust a handle that consists of two hinged parts and a pivot. The proposed toothbrush offers three or fewer parts to accomplish the same goal as the previous, control-pin device, which has more parts and is more difficult to operate. The proposed device, because of its simpler construction, allows less-expensive, easier manufacturing plus a simple, one-handed operation.
(b) U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,621: a toothbrush in which the brush-head can be angled. The toothbrush neck may be elastically deformed using an interior flexible wire. An elastically deformable neck does not allow for a locking/secure positioning mechanism, as the proposed one does.
(c) U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,25; a children's toothbrush with a joint, that connects the toothbrush handle with a novelty-handle end. In addition to being a novelty item, the purpose of that device is to fold into a closed unit and/or to lock into place in the open position; it does not offer a method of locking into angled positions.
(d) U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,658: a folding toothbrush-toothpaste system that does not offer a method of angling.
(e) U.S. Patent Number 20050015907: A bendable toothbrush with an inner core of soft, elastomeric material wholly or partly enclosed within an outer flexible skin of a second polymer material. This toothbrush does not offer the squeeze-adjust angling method of the proposed toothbrush. Instead the user must manipulate only a small area—the head of the brush—making it more difficult to adjust than the proposed invention.
There remains a need for an improved, flexible toothbrush that can be angled into two or more positions and locked into place so that it stays in place while brushing. As such, the principal objects of the present invention are:
1. To provide two or more angles for more focused tooth-cleaning, with the option of a straight head;
2. To allow one-handed operation; and
3. To provide a locking mechanism that keeps the angle in place while brushing.